“I’m in my second or third thousand doors that I’ve been knocking on, and I’ve ever got a little callous on my knuckles,” jokes Bill Albracht who’s running for Illinois’ 36th Legislative District.

Parades like the one in East Moline offer politicians a chance to get out, shake hands, kiss babies, and meet voters face to face.

The candidates will tell you it’s a lot of work running a campaign, and it only gets harder from here on out.

“I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy talking to them. We’re going to press the flesh, we’re going to run a grassroots campaign like they haven’t seen in a long time,” says State Senator Mike Jacobs from Illinois’ 36th Legislative District.

“We’re just going to really really work hard. You know coming from the restaurant business 60/80 hour work weeks is no problem for me,” boasts Congressman Bobby Schilling of Illinois’ 17th Congressional District.

“I was retired, and my wife got sick of me yelling at the TV and here I am,” laughs Albracht.

Politicians come from all kinds of backgrounds, but as varied as they are, they all want to make our country a better place.

It’s just that their reasons for running are as varied as they are.

“Remember what this day is about, this day is about solidarity. People working for other people not taking from them,” says Jacobs.

“For our grandkids and our kids we’ve got to get back to the basics. Pull the D’s and the R’s away from our names and run as Americans to fix this country,” explains Schilling.

“We must take control of the state, we must balance our budget, we must realign the state,” says Albracht.

“We’ve got a middle class that’s dwindling, and we’ve got to make sure we’ve got a middle class that’s as strong as it can possibly be, and that’s why I’m running,” says Bustos.